BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's five-year treasury bond futures opened higher on Thursday, with the contract for settlement in December 2018 opening 0.1 percent higher at 98.12 yuan ($14.16).

Illustration and file photo: VCG

The contracts for settlement in March and June 2019 had no trading at opening.

The contracts are agreements to buy or sell treasury bonds at a predetermined price on a set date. They allow investors to bet on and profit from the movements in the value of the bonds.

The treasury bond futures were launched at the Shanghai-based China Financial Futures Exchange and started trading on Sept. 6, 2013.

Meanwhile, Chinese stocks opened lower on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.65 percent to open at 2,544.91 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index opened 0.76 percent lower at 7,309 points.